This blog posting represents the views of the author, David Fosberry. Those opinions may change over time. They do not constitute an expert legal or financial opinion.

If you have comments on this blog posting, please email me .

The Opinion Blog is organised by threads, so each post is identified by a thread number ("Major" index) and a post number ("Minor" index). If you want to view the index of blogs, click here to download it as an Excel spreadsheet.

Click here to see the whole Opinion Blog.

To view, save, share or refer to a particular blog post, use the link in that post (below/right, where it says "Show only this post").

Brexit: Here Are Your Choices, But You Don’t Get To Choose!

Posted on 14th November 2018

Show only this post
Show all posts in this thread.

The latest statement by British PM Theresa May, as reported by the BBC, proves that democracy is dead in the UK.

Mrs. May said "This deal, which delivers on the vote of the referendum, which brings back control of our money, laws and borders, ends free movement, protects jobs, security and our Union; or leave with no deal, or no Brexit at all." In other words, there are three choices. The problem is that she doesn't want the people to choose: she is very strongly opposed to another referendum, and even fought hard (and lost) to stop a parliamentary vote on the deal, her argument being that the people have already voted in the first referendum. More importantly, it does not, as she claims, "deliver on ... the referendum".

It is rather like if you went to a car dealership and selected a model of car to purchase, and chose several options: metallic grey paint, air conditioning, a sun-roof, and a 2 litre engine. Then, when you go to collect your new car, you find that it is painted black, has no air conditioning or a sun-roof, and has a 3 litre engine. Naturally, you tell the dealer that you don't want the car, because it is not what you ordered, but he tells you that you have to take it, because you have a contract with him.

Of course, in the above scenario, the law is on your side: the contract is not valid, because the conditions were not met by the dealer. Unfortunately, in the case of Brexit, the law will not protect us. The country voted for Brexit on the basis of a bunch of "facts" which were not true, and also based on a list of promises by politicians which have not been fulfilled by the deal now on the table. Even so, Theresa May is telling us that we won't get to vote on the deal, because we already voted, even though her deal does not meet our expectations (i.e. the contract). In most walks of life and business, she would be in breach of contract, but sadly, in politics, things are very different.

So many politicians do not seem to understand the difference between strong leadership and dictatorship. This is not just an issue in the UK: the USA, among others, also fails to get it; even though their lower house is called The House of Representatives, the members of that house consistently fail to represent the views of their constituents.